Building the new plastic standard

In February 2021, Verra launched a new standard to support the collection and sorting infrastructure needed to close the loop on plastic waste. This Plastic Waste Reduction Standard (Plastic Standard) is a crediting mechanism that provides an efficient and powerful means of financing activities to verifiably reduce plastic waste in the environment. The Plastic Standard is used for the consistent accounting and crediting of a variety of plastic collection and recycling activities, which enables independent auditing. It issues Plastic Credits to registered collection and/or recycling projects based on the tons of plastic waste they collect or recycle above baseline rates (i.e., what would have happened in the absence of the project). Plus, this crediting mechanism addresses the social and environmental impacts of waste management activities. By including metrics such as safeguard requirements around fair compensation, working conditions and the greenhouse gas emissions of projects, these projects have an impact beyond just the collecting and recycling of plastic waste.

Companies purchase Plastic Credits to invest in the plastic waste collection and recycling infrastructure outside of their value chain. Through the crediting mech anism, companies can make a verified investment into the infrastructure that will process the plastic they generate and complement the actions they take within their own value chain.

In a robust plastic credit market, a company can purchase credits to offset their own plastic footprint. The Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship were launched in conjunction with the Plastic Standard as one of the outputs of the 3R Initiative (Reduce Recover Recycle), a market-based approach to upscale collection and recycling 2 These guidelines, which the World Business Council for Sustainable Development intends to standardize, set out best practices for using Plastic Credits.

Plastic credit system in action

Let’s consider how a Chinese brand may apply these guidelines and invest in Plastic Credits as part of their broader plastic stewardship strategy. The brand should assess their plastic footprint and consider what actions they can take to reduce the plastic footprint and leakage associated with their

The US and China account for 51 percent of global plastic production

Credits in their pledge to be Net Zero Plastic to Nature by 2025. In addition to reducing their reliance on virgin plastic materials and increasing the circular attributes of their packaging, they are supporting global waste management infrastructure through Plastic Credits. Specifically, Burt’s Bees are funding projects in India and Ghana developed by rePurpose Global. All of these Burt’s Bees and rePurpose Global joint projects must be registered and verified under the Plastic Standard, which provides further credibility to this investment.

In the short term, the Plastic Standard can facilitate investment in the recognized gap in critical waste management infrastructure worldwide, including the United States and China which accounts for 51 percent of global plastic production.3 In the long term, countries passing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies could use the

Plastic Standard as a standardized accounting framework to quantify the impact (in tons) of investments made by companies in collection and recycling. Credible, thirdparty verified Plastic Credits may be able to support the development or expansion of these policies, and provide a valuable tool that helps governments and the public to monitor the companies.

Plastic waste collection and recycling infrastructure is complex and every country’s needs are different. Yet one thing is clear – we can’t close the loop on plastic waste without addressing tracking plastic recovery and recycling. Verra’s Plastic Standard and the credits issued under it help to drive investment into this essential infrastructure.

Endnotes

1 “Overview and policy highlights”, in Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options. OECD, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1787/ f9c3a6c4-en

2 Guideline for Corporate Plastic Stewardship can be found here: https:// www.3rinitiative.org/_files/ugd/e94bf0_0480d0bd0efa4cf08b56355ca73ebc98.pdf

3 “Plastics - the Facts 2021 An analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data.” Plastics Europe, 2022. https://plasticseurope.org/wp-content/ uploads/2021/12/Plastics-the-Facts-2021-web-final.pdf